Multiverse Or 'Who is it? Who is it'
by Morwen Tindomerel
Summary: A massive, multicosmic coincidence leads to enormous confusion for assorted birdstyled defenders of Earth.
1. Lost

_**MULTIVERSE**_

_**Premise:**__ By multi-cosmic coincidence four villainous aliens; Sosai X, The Luminous One, Computor and Cybercon, in their four contiguous dimensions each make an identical plan to capture their formost adversary using a teleport beam. Unfortunately all four overpower their beams, worse still they put them into operation at parallel moments in time creating a multi-dimensional disruption that results in Sosai X and Gel Sadra getting Dr. Thaddeus Keane instead of Nambu who is captured by Zoltar and the Luminous One. Security Chief Anderson becomes the prisoner of Galactor and Computor while Dr. Benjamin Brighthead ends up in the hands of Cybercon and Mallanox. _

_At first nobody realizes what's happened. The Doctors and Chief Anderson assume it's all some kind of mind game on the part of their captors, and since all four refuse to talk Gel Sadra, Zoltar, Galactor and Mallanox have no opportunity to discover their mistake. _

_It isn't until the Gatchaman Team, the two G-Forces and the Eagle Riders arrive to rescue their mentors that said mentors begin to suspect that something is drastically wrong with their universe. _

_All four struggle to conceal their bewilderment and adapt to strange/familiar surroundings while trying to figure out what the Hell is going on. _

_Almost forgot: Gatchaman is the property of Tatsunoko; Battle of the Planets property of Sandy Franks; G-Force belongs to Turner and Eagle Riders to Saban Enterprises. Nothing here is mine._

**Chapter One: Lost**

Everybody here belongs to Tatsunoko, I'm just borrowing them for a bit.

**Washio Airfield, 0530 hrs.** Ken woke to his bracelet's insistent beep. Groping, he knocked it off the nightstand and had to roll out of bed and crawl around the floor to find it. "G1!" he snapped at last, fully awake and pissed off.

"Pandora here," came the tense answer, "We need you at G-Town, Gatchaman, it's an emergency!"

"Roger." he acknowledged, "What's happened?" but Pandora had already signed off.

----

"What's the big emergency, Doctor?" Ken demanded again some thirty minutes later aboard the G-Town.

The usually pretty scientist looked terrible; grey faced with fine lines barring her forehead and black circles under her eyes. Whatever it was, it was bad. Turning on her heel Pandora led five worried Science Ninjas from the big conference room, through Dr. Nambu's office, and opened the door to his private quarters. The austere, spartan little room was a wreck, books and ornaments swept from shelves and dresser top to litter the floor, easy chair overturned, the bed knocked awry with pillows and bedclothes strewn about the room.

Ken swallowed hard. "Where is he?"

"We don't know," was the bald answer.

Gatchaman started to shout, took a deep breath instead and said evenly, "What happened?"

"I left Dr. Nambu just before twelve last night, here in his office." Dr. Pandora answered, "Apparently I was the last to see him. He usually signals me at eight for the morning briefing, when the call didn't come this morning I assumed he was sleeping in for once, you know how he pushes himself." The Team nodded in unison. Indeed they did, few better. Pandora continued, holding her voice steady with visible effort. "A message came in early this afternoon that I thought he should see. I came to his office and found it empty. I was surprised of course, it's out of character, but if anybody deserves a day off--" her voice wavered dangerously. "I decided not to disturb him. "Late this evening the chief steward contacted me, concerned that Dr. Nambu hadn't eaten all day. I decided I'd been mistaken, he wasn't taking a rest he'd just gotten involved in his research and lost track of time. He's done that before." More nods. Yes he had. "I came back here. Knocked, got no answer, opened the door and found - this." a stiff gesture encompassed the mess. "I ordered an immediate search, had the daily logs checked. No vessel has docked or left G-Town since I last saw the Doctor. No reported hull breeches or alarms of any kind. He *has* to be here! but he's not, he's vanished into thin air." Pandora finally broke down, burying her face in her hands.

Joe pulled a chair away from the desk and Jun guided her into it, saying gently, "You mustn't blame yourself, Doctor, you couldn't have known." She glared promptingly at Ken.

"Jun's right," he said quickly, "I'd have done the same in your place." Joe, Ryu and Jinpei moved into the bedroom, gingerly inspecting the damage.

"Looks like he put up a hell of a fight." Joe observed bending to pick Nambu's glasses off the floor, one lense starred with cracks.

"Against who?" Ryu wondered.

"Galactor, who else." shrugged Joe.

"But how could Galactors get aboard G-Town without setting off every alarm in the place?" Ken demanded.

Pandora raised her head. "I've been thinking about that. There is evidence that Sosai X has limited teleport capability. It's the only explanation for some of Katse's escapes."

"Then we're finished." said Joe grimly. "They can snatch anybody they want, Director Anderson or the Secretary General, anybody, anytime they please."

"Then why haven't they?" Jun argued. "There must be limits, technical problems we don't know about."

Joe grimaced, "Maybe that's why they grabbed Doctor, to fix it for them."

"If they didn't just kill him," said a small voice. All turned to Jinpei, huddled on the foot of Nambu's bed, hugging a pillow. Jun started towards him but it was Joe who offered rough reassurance.

"If they'd killed him they'd have left his body here for us to find. Besides Gel Sadra wants him alive for questioning."

"For all the good it'll do her." Ryu muttered.

"He knows we'll come for him." Ken agreed. "He'll hold out as long as it takes."

"It's already taken over twenty-four hours." Joe said pointedly.

------

------

Everybody here is the property of Sandy Franks, especially 7-Zark-7.

**Center Neptune, Somewhere in the Pacific, 1420 Hrs.** Paperwork wasn't Mark's least favorite part of his job but it came a close second. He was frowning in concentration over a weapons manifest when his desk monitor lit up with 7-Zark-7's silver and gold lack of face.

"Sorry to bother you, Commander, but have you seen Chief Anderson?"

"Not since the debriefing yesterday." Mark answered. "Why? is there a problem?"

"I'm afraid there might be" the computer co-ordinator admitted unhappily. "He's missed three appointments and a Federation Council meeting, and nobody seems to have seen him since yesterday afternoon."

Mark pushed his papers away. "That's not like the Chief." he said beginning to feel twinges of worry. "Who saw him last?"

"The Flight Deck Duty Officer," Zark replied. "At approximately 1500 hours yesterday afternoon. Chief Anderson checked out a jet. He planned to fly himself to Capitol City for his meetings and stay there overnight. He should have been back two hours ago -"

"But he didn't make the meetings," Mark interrupted, "maybe he didn't make it to Capitol City."

"A crash?" the brain-bot's voice went up an octave, he didn't quite wring his hands. "I'm afraid I never considered that possibility. there was no mayday and the Chief is an excellent pilot."

"You bet he is," Mark agreed. "taught Tiny and me everything we know, but even the best can get unlucky."

"Oh dear!" now Zark was wringing his four fingered metal hands, antenae drooping in distress, "I feel so remiss!"

"It's not your fault, Zark," Mark reassured him, fighting down his own apprehension. "You're supposed to monitor space, not the local air traffic. I'll fly the Chief's flight plan, see if I can spot anything." like wreckage.

The G1 skimmed low over the Pacific, over-flying the occasional coral atoll. *'A power failure?'* Mark conjectured. *'But that wouldn't effect the crash-beacon. No mayday, what could be so fast, so total he wouldn't have time to call for help or even eject his flight recorder? Spectra? Zoltar's still lurking somewhere on Earth but a Mecha, even fighters, would've been spotted. Besides, the Chief's good. Good enough to evade the few seconds he'd need to send out a warning. Maybe-'*

A metallic glint caught Mark's eye amidst the jungle greenery of yet another atoll, then another, then a lot more. "Oh God!" he breathed. Wreckage, enough for a small jet.

----

Mark stood beside Jason in the middle of the debris field watching as Princess, pale and controlled, scanned for organic remains - for the Chief's body. Keyop and Tiny were some distance away, backtracking the crash trail. The older members of the Team had agreed the youngster shouldn't see whatever the accident had left of their mentor.

Suddenly Princess snapped off the scanner and came to stand visor to visor with Mark. "Negative." she reported. "He's not here, he wasn't on the plane when it crashed." He pulled her to him and felt her shaking with relief in his arms as the sick knot in his stomach unraveled. The Chief was alive, their guardian, the closest thing any of them had to a father, hadn't died on this crummy little island after all.

"The ejector seat's still here." Jason said abruptly and they broke apart to stare at him. "So's the emergency parachute. How'd he get off?"

Then Keyop was racing towards them to throw himself into Princess's arms, tearful and incoherent, clutching something tightly in one red gloved hand. "Glasses!" he sobbed, between hoots and twitters, "found them, his glasses!"

"It's okay, Keyop, he wasn't on the plane, he got off before the crash." Princess soothed, hugging her 'little brother'.

Tiny, jogging up in Keyop's wake, caught the last part, looked a hopeful question at Mark.

the Commander nodded. "It's true, he's not here, somehow he got off in time."

"But how?" asked Jason.

----

"Teleportation!" the members of G-Force chorused in varying tones of incredulity.

7-Zark-7 looked out of the Phoenix's monitor screen, apologetic but firm. "It was the only possible answer. I scanned for photonic energy remains and there is a particle trail intercepting the Chief's course."

"Good enough for me." Mark decided. "So this trail'll lead us right to wherever they've taken him?"

"It should. Please be careful, Team, Zoltar would undoubtedly prefer Chief Anderson alive but if he realizes rescue is at hand -"

"He may kill him." Mark finished grimly. "Don't worry, Zark, we'll watch it." After the brain-bot signed off, the Commander added quietly, "We're not going to risk loosing him a second time."

----

----

G-Force is the property of Turner which is solely responsible for their names.

\**Somewhere Over the Pacific Northwest, 1140 Hrs.** Ace's bracelet pinged. *'Perfect timing'* he thought raising it to his lips, *'on my way back for once'* "G1."

"Ace," it was Agatha June, her voice full of worry and anger. "We've got trouble, Dr. Brighthead is missing!"

His stomach dropped out of his body, like he'd just done a double immelman. "What! since when?"

"He hasn't been seen for at least twenty hours."

"And you're only calling in now!" Ace yelled, appalled.

"I only found out myself five minutes ago!" Aggie shouted back, "they didn't want to worry the Doctor's sweet little girl." she sounded close to tears, angry tears. "Damn this cover!"

"Are they trying to ship you home?" Ace asked as soothingly as possible with his own gut in a knot.

"Of course." she answered bitterly.

"Okay, let them. We'll meet at Base and go back as G-Force."

The Doctor had been in Central Asia, investigating a crop blight, possibly Galactor related. As always when he left the security of Crescent Base for any place but another ISO stronghold he was accompanied by a G-Force bodyguard, as his wards they had the perfect cover. It'd just been Aggie and Peewee this time, Ace, Dirk and Hooty had all had conflicting commitments; a mail contract, a race, a kid brother's birthday. Nobody had expected any trouble. *'We got complacent,'* Ace thought savagely. *'You'd think we'd know better by now!'*

----

G-Force was greeted by a small, tense delegation of local security officials. A very unhappy E.U. colonel briefed them. "Dr. Brighthead was last seen here, about four thirty yesterday morning," he said, as he unlocked the door of a pre-fab field laboratory. "According to the two technicians assigned to assist the doctor he dismissed them at that hour and they locked the doors behind them as they left." The colonel gestured around the compound. "As you can see, the lab is protected by a force field fence. There are surveillance cameras set every seven meters. We had four armed guards at each gate and five more stationed in the monitor room. Nobody could have entered or left without being seen, yet -" He flung open the door and the Team gasped.

Scorched and shattered electronic equipment lined the walls. Fragments of glass and metal littered workbenches and floors. They entered cautiously, broken components crunching under their boots, while the colonel hovered in the doorway.

"Look's like they fought World War IV in here." Ace breathed.

"How could your guards not hear all this?" Aggie demanded.

The colonel shrugged helplessly. "The building is sound proofed."

"Must be damn good sound proofing." Dirk commented.

"Too good." The security officer agreed, ruefully.

Hooty bent suddenly to examine a reddish-brown stain. "Blood!"

"Not Dr. Brighthead's." he was reassured hastily, "We checked."

Dirk smiled his unpleasant, predator's smile. "He got at least one of them."

"Good for Doc!" said Peewee.

"Should have known better than to tackle him in a laboratory." Aggie murmured.

"But how did they get in?" the colonel demanded, anguished at the failure of his careful security measures. "And how did they get out again with the Doctor, nobody seeing?"

Ace saw a familiar object on the floor and bent to retrieve it. It was the frame of Dr. Brighthead's glasses, a few fragments of lense still clinging to the twisted rims. His hand clenched around it but somehow he managed to keep his voice calm and professional. "I don't know, colonel. Any ideas, Swan?"

"One." she said, "the same way Galactor keeps escaping from us."

Four bird helmets snapped round to stare at her. The colonel merely looked bewildered.

"That's impossible!" Ace blurted.

"She's right, it's the only thing that makes any sense." Dirk argued. Hooty and Peewee exchanged worried looks.

"I don't understand." said the colonel blankly.

"Wish I didn't," Ace muttered, adding formally. "I don't see how any blame can attach to your people, colonel. You clearly took every reasonable precaution. It's no fault of yours they weren't enough."

----

"Teleportation!" Director Anderson exploded incredulously.

"I know, sir, but it's the only logical explanation." Ace replied uncomfortably from his command seat aboard the Phoenix.

"We know Galactor has the ability to teleport himself," Agatha June chimed in over his shoulder. "apparently he's now discovered a way to 'port groups of people."

"Which means we're in big trouble." added Hooty.

"The implications are pretty scary," Dirk agreed, "Galactor could drop a combat team in anywhere from the Secretariat building to Crescent base itself."

"The way I reconstruct it a Galactor commando force teleported into the lab, subdued the Doctor-" Aggie continued, ignoring the interruptions.

"After one hell of a fight!" Peewee put in.

"Judging by the damages." Aggie agreed. "Then they ported out again taking the Doctor with them.

"We're backtracking the photon trail now," Ace said. "Hopefully it'll lead us right to Dr. Brighthead."

"And the teleport equipment." Dirk finished for him. "We'll try to take it out."

"For all the good it'll do." Anderson was grim. "What's to keep them from building a new one?"

"Nothing," Ace admitted, "we'll just have to blow that one too."

"And the one after that-" said Dirk.

"And the next one-" sighed Aggie.

"And so on, and so forth-" from Hooty.

"Talk about job security!" Peewee ended with a shrug.

A reluctant smile tugged at the Director's mouth. "Very well, carry on G-Force and good luck!"

"We're gonna need it." the Team chorused as the screen went dark.

"I hope Doc's all right." Aggie said, very quietly, after a brief silence.

"Judging by that lab it's Galactor we should be worrying about." Ace replied with faked confidence, trying to raise spirits. It fell flat. All five had spent enough time in enemy hands to have a painfully clear idea of what their mentor might be enduring. "Can we go any faster, Hooty?" Ace asked.

-----

-----

'Eagle Riders' is the property of Saban Enterprises. No Zark, no stupid names, what's everybody complaining about?

**The Eyrie, In The Mountains Above Gateway City, 0230 Hrs.** Joe Thax waved casually to the guard at the gate and continued on up the long drive to the main house. Unlocking the front door he stepped into the entry hall and grinned when he saw lights still burning in the library. "Waiting up, Doc? I'm not a teenager any more -" the pleasantry broke off in a gasp as he pushed the heavy oak door fully open and got a look inside.

The big mahogany library table had been overturned scattering books, papers and a pair of shattered lamps across the rug. A Vorak android in the familiar green and drab uniform lay crushed beneath it, arms and legs still twitching feebly. A second android was slumped beside the door, a feather stunner buried in its right eye.

Joe unfroze and swung his arm into position. "Eagle mode, Now!" dark blue wings swirled into existence around him as he turned shouting, "Doc! Dr. Keane! Where are you?"

A quick search of the house proved it empty, the other rooms untouched. The alarm system was still engaged and showed green. Furious Joe brought a cybernetically enhanced fist down on the console smashing it. Red lights flashed and sirens blared. Ignoring the armed guards crashing in through windows and doors, he spoke into his bracelet. "G2 to G1! Hunter, we've got a crisis!"

----

"I should never have left him." Joe brooded.

Hunter turned from watching Kelly work on a deactivated Vorak. "Give it a break, Joe." he told his second, "The Eyrie's supposed to be secure, we've left him alone here a thousand times. Hell, the main reason he comes up here is to get some time to himself."

Joe shook his head angrily. "If I'd been with him -" "There's no guarantee you could have changed what happened." Hunter interrupted. "They might have taken you too, or killed you. Maybe killed both of you."

"I could've -" Joe began. Hunter cut him off, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking. "Hey! Joe! this is your commander talking! It's not your fault!"

"But -" "Repeat after me; 'It's not my fault!'" Hunter insisted.

"It's not my fault." Joe echoed weakly. "Once more, with feeling." Hunter ordered. Irritated Joe broke free, snarling; "It's not my fault! Okay? that good enough for you, Hunter?"

"Better," the commander conceded, grinning. "For a minute there I thought I'd have to give you one of my lectures."

"No!" the Falcon cried in mock terror, "anything but that!"

Satisfied Joe was himself again Hunter turned his attention back to Kelly. She had just finished extracting a walnut sized component from behind the Vorak's left eye, the android equivalent of a black box.

"Okay," she said, "this should tell us how they got in here and what they did with the Doctor."

Francine Aikens entered through the wreckage of a garden window trailed by Mickey, carrying her bag, and Ollie. "Nobody saw or heard anything." She reported, "They're not lying but there's no sign of drugs or hypnotic influence, I can't explain it."

"Hopefully the Vorak's vid-corders can." Kelly remarked, starting to rise, her foot knocked against something and she picked it up. For a moment they all stared as if mesmerized at Dr. Keane's glasses, miraculously unbroken, in her palm then she tucked them away in her belt pouch, breaking the spell, led the way out of the room.

---

Kelly took the Doctor's data decoder from his private lab and set it up in the living room. Hunter and Ollie started rearranging chairs into an improvised theater as Joe looked on in disbelief. "How about some popcorn?" he asked, voice fairly dripping sarcasm.

"Good idea." said Ollie, grabbed Mickey and exited to the kitchen. they returned just as the others were settling into their seats with bowls of popcorn, chips and dip.

"I don't believe this!" Joe snarled. "Doctor Keane is missing and you guys get munchies!"

"Gotta keep up our strength." Ollie returned calmly, passed him a bowl. "Have some popcorn?"

"Ready, Kelly?" Hunter interposed quickly.

"Ready." she responded, "Settle down, guys." She flicked a switch on the decoder and a holoscreen formed before the half circle of seats depicting an android eye view of a familiar figure making a speech. "Sorry, can't get sound."

Kelly apologized. "No problem," Hunter answered. "We've all heard Mallanox rave before."

Their POV marched through standard Vorak corridors then through an arch into a spacious lab where strange looking machines generated a ring of misty light.

"What the hell is that?" Joe wondered.

"Can't be." Aikens muttered.

"Can't be what?" Hunter asked, overhearing.

"It looks like some kind of teleport device," She admitted reluctantly.

"Shit!" said Hunter.

"Double shit." Joe agreed.

Onscreen a detachment of Vorak passed through the light ring into the familiar library with Dr. Keane rising from behind the center table. The point-of-view android moved towards him, weapon leveled. The Doctor's lips formed a word that popped his charges' eyes.

"I didn't think Doc knew that kind of language." Hunter muttered.

Suddenly Keane lifted the heavy table and literally threw it at the Vorak.

Mickey: "Wow!"

Ollie, equally impressed: "Nice move!"

Hunter and Joe simply gaped. The picture cartwheeled as the Vorak fell and settled into an out of focus view of the raftered ceiling.

Kelly switched off and changed vid-corders. "This is from the second attacker." A reprise of the table throwing incident was followed by a flurry of ninjitsu moves as the Vorak tried to close in.

Joe, shaking his head, stunned: "I didn't know Doc had it in him."

Kelly: "Neither did the Vorak."

Mickey: "Yeah! Go Doc!"

Hunter: I don't know why I'm so surprised, he trained us after all."

Ollie: "Watch out Doc!"

Outnumbered and unarmed, except for one feather stunner, the end was inevitable. Eventually the Vorak managed to come to grips and then it was android strength against mere human muscle. Dr. Keane had the good sense not to struggle knowing he would only injure himself. The light ring reformed in a corner of the room and the remaining Vorak walked into it, dragging the Doctor with them.

Kelly switched off the machine and the holoscreen evaporated. "This is not good." Hunter understated grimly, "How long ago did all this happen, Kelly?"

"Roughly twenty-two hours."

Joe flinched. "Don't even think it, Joe!" Hunter warned, "there's no way you could've known. He turned to Aikens. "Is there a way to track teleports?"

She nodded, "Yes, the high energy beam leaves a trail of photon particles -" "Great. Will it still be there after twenty-two hours?"

"Should be." Aikens and Kelly replied in chorus.

"Then let's go!" said Hunter


	2. Found

**Chapter Two: Found**

Like I said; All this belongs to Tatsunoko, Except Dr. Keane who is the property of Saban.

**The God Phoenix, Over The Ural Mountains, 0315 Hrs.** Jun stared intently at her board. "Photon track dissipates about two klicks over that next rise."

"Roger, take her down," Ken ordered.

Ryu tucked the God Phoenix neatly into a little hollow halfway up the mountainside, switched on Piemur and joined the others on the lift. "I don't care what you say, Ken, I'm not staying with the ship this time!"

"The thought never crossed my mind." Gatchaman assured him.

----

"This is it." Jun announced, snapping off her hand scanner.

Ken regarded the rocky, unpromising slope before them, strewn with boulders and scrubby bushes. "All right, start looking for a way in."

But they'd barely got started when Joe snapped, "Somebody coming!" and they had to take cover. A line of all-terrain cargo vehicles growled into view causing the ninjas to exchange incredulous looks. "Well that solves that problem." muttered Joe.

"Talk about luck!" Jinpei agreed, brightening.

"Maybe it's a good omen." Jun smiled.

"Maybe so," Ken agreed falling in with the general mood of optimism. "All right, five of them, five of us, one to a truck, go!"

Jumping down onto a truck was easy, hanging on as it bumped and ground its way over the trackless mountainside rather less so. Finally the earth opened before them and they drove into the Galactor base. The Team promptly abandoned their trucks and reassembled in the support beams high above the vehicle bay.

Ryu groaned, "I think I'm seasick!"

Ken said, "You wanted to come."

Jinpei added, "We're fifty million miles inland, dummy!"

Ryu snorted. "Okay, make that landsick, I sure never felt this bad at sea!"

Ken called them to order. "Listen up! We've got two objectives, Doctor and the teleport device. We've got to destroy it but we can't move until Doctor is safe or Gel Sadra will use him against us. Joe you go with Ryu, Jun and Jinpei with me. Call in when you find something."

"Roger!" Joe and Ryu chorused.

---

Dr. Thaddeus Keane tried to analyze his symptoms and deduce what drug they had given him but it was growing increasingly difficult to think. Not a truth serum then, those gave an unnatural clarity of mind and euphoric indifference to consequences. He felt anything but euphoric. He was worried and apprehensive, for himself of course, but even more for his adopted children. He knew they'd be coming after him and was terrified they'd find themselves walking into a trap.

Suddenly somebody gripped his shoulder, "Doctor!"

He forced his eyes open and shrank reflexively from the blurred, blue caped figure bending over him before realizing who it must be. "Joe?"

"Thank God," said the familiar voice, "for a second there I thought you didn't know me. You okay, Doctor?"

"I'm afraid not," he admitted, "they've drugged me, a hypnotic by the feel of it, just enough to scramble my reflexes and thought processes."

"Can you walk?" the Condor frowned, concerned.

"I can try." Keane sat up, using Joe's arm to lever himself to his feet. A wave of vertigo broke over him and he was forced to clutch at his foster son for support.

Strong arms closed around him. "Doctor! Can you hear me? Are you all right?"

Keane took a deep breath and managed to answer; "I'm not going to be able to walk without help, Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Ryu!" The strange name failed to register with Keane, he was too busy trying to stay on his feet. "Here, take him." A new, thicker arm slipped around him, he looked into the familiar, if blurry face of the Owl.

"I don't suppose either of you has my spare glasses?"

"Sorry, I think Ken has them," Joe answered.

*'Ken?'* Keane shook his head, trying to clear it.

"G2 here," Joe continued into his bracelet, "we got him."

"Good," came the Eagle's voice in reply, "get him back to the vehicle bay, we'll take care of the teleport."

"Roger."

----

Joe took point as they moved out, several paces in advance of the others, alert for trouble. Coming to a corner he shot a quick look over his shoulder to check on their progress. Doctor was doing his best but could barely stay on his feet, much less walk. Ryu looked worried. Joe was worried too, all hell was going to break loose round here the minute Ken and the others blew the teleport, they had to move faster than this. He returned his attention to the corridor ahead just in time to see a squad of Guys-in-Green round the corner. "Shit!"

The Galactors froze an all too brief instant then opened fire in an ill-aimed volley. The Condor flipped himself out of the stream of bullets and tossed a handful of feather shurikens. Five out of the ten fell. The rest wavered and would have run if they hadn't been quickly reinforced by a second, larger troop. "I could use some help here, Owl!"

Ryu had pushed Keane against the wall, sheltering him from Galactor fire with body and wings. "Stay here, Doctor, don't move!" he instructed hurriedly, then charged into the fray roaring defiance.

Holding onto the wall for support, Keane peered into the struggling mass of bodies, desperately wishing he could at least see what was going on. A rough hand grasped his shoulder and spun him around. It didn't take twenty-twenty vision to make out two Galactors, probably cell-block guards attracted by the gunfire. Instinctively the Doctor broke the hold on his arm. When the Goon grabbed for him again he used the man's own momentum to slam him against the wall. The Galactor slid into a boneless heap on the floor but the move cost Keane his balance. He looked up to see a gun butt swinging towards his head, then a feather shuriken caught the second guard in the throat knocking him backwards.

Shaken Joe pulled his mentor to his feet, demanded to know if he was all right. "I'm embarrassed." the Doctor replied, "I can fight better than that."

"We know." Joe assured him, shooting a concerned look at Ryu. "The alarm's out, Doctor, we've got to move fast. I'm going to carry you, okay?"

It was clear the Doctor didn't like the idea but he nodded. "I guess you'll have to. Sorry."

"It's not your fault." Even with permission he felt like he was violating his mentor's dignity as he picked him up and flashed back to a memory of himself at a gawky twelve or thirteen being carried upstairs by his guardian after some accident.

The Doctor held himself stiff for a moment, then deliberately relaxed, closing his eyes and resting his head on Joe's shoulder. The Condor gave him a comforting squeeze and felt a surge of protective affection and of fury directed at Gel Sadra for reducing his foster father to this.

----

They made it to the assigned rendevous, an empty workspace off the vehicle bay, without further incident. Three white shadows, or rather two white and one blue, descended upon them. Ken, Jun and Jinpei all crying "Doctor!" in ragged unison.

Jinpei said accusingly: "You said he was all right!"

"I said we had him." Joe corrected.

Jun said worriedly: "Is he injured?"

"Drugged." Joe answered tersely. "He's kinda out of it."

The Doctor opened his eyes and tried to smile reassuringly at Jun and Jinpei, "Not that out of it." He looked up at Joe. "Are you going to put me down?"

"No." Joe said flatly, then to Ken, "Let's blow this place."

"My thought exactly." The Eagle responded with his wickedest grin.

----

----

Everybody but Nambu belongs to Sandy Franks, Hakase is the property of Tatsunoko and doubtless wishes they'd come claim him.

**Secret Spectran Base, Tierra Del Fuego, 1510 Hrs.** Mala stepped back, glaring furiously at her prisoner. He returned her gaze as unmoved as ever, seemingly indifferent to the blood trickling from four parallel scratches down the side of this face and the too tight metal restraints holding him helpless in his chair. She fought down a scream of frustration.

She'd been looking forward to this interrogation, to matching wits with the formidable Security Chief Anderson - and winning of course! For all his ability he was only human, unequal to one of the Great Spirit's Chosen. She was close to changing her opinion on that point at least. How do you break a man who won't speak or respond to you in any way? Who just sits there impenetrable and immovable giving no purchase at all?

Mala backed another few steps away. It was ridiculous but she felt as if she were the one at a disadvantage. She knew perfectly well he couldn't see her clearly without those odd corrective lenses he affected yet his brown eyes seemed to look right through her, cataloging, analyzing, as if she were some kind of scientific specimen. *'I've got to get out of here, calm down, get my perspective back.'* She turned in a swirl of purple and mauve draperies and slammed the door behind her.

Nambu leaned back in the straight chair, closing his eyes. It made no sense, what did Gel Sadra think she would accomplish with this absurd masquerade? Admittedly seeing Katse again had shaken him badly but this soi-disant sister had ruined the impact. Had Sosai X forgotten he knew the truth about Katse? Nambu willed himself to relax, to try to sleep. He had to keep his strength up.

An indeterminate time later the door opened, startling him out of a light doze. A slight, white and pink form swooped down on him, encircling him with arms and wings. "Chief! Oh you gave us a scare! We thought you were dead!" the Swan all but sobbed.

"As you can see I'm alive," Nambu answered gently, "and very glad to see you."

Her smile faded as she noted the scratches on his face. "That bitch!" Sorry, Chief, but she is." The Swan took out her first aid kit and began dabbing antiseptic on the cuts. "Did she hurt you? I mean other than this?"

"No. She was trying a rather clumsy psychological approach."

The Swan grinned. "Wasn't working huh?"

"Perhaps for a moment." he conceded as his foster daughter finished with the scratches. He was slightly startled when she dropped a kiss on his good cheek before setting to work on the restraints. Jun wasn't usually that demonstrative. *'The poor child must have been very upset.'* He looked past her and saw a second white winged figure standing quietly just inside the door. "'The white shadow that slips in unseen.'" he quoted, smiling.

The Swan glanced up in surprise, then over her shoulder. "Oh! Commander, I was going to call in when I'd finished with these." She indicated the metal bands still confining Nambu's left arm and leg.

The Eagle just shook his head, raised his arm to speak into his bracelet, "G1 to G-Force, we've got him. Set your charges and get back to the ship." Enthusiastic "Yeahs!" and a "Root-a-toot-toot!" came from tiny speaker.

Nambu blinked, startled. *'Was that Jinpei?'*

The Swan finished with the restraints and helped him to his feet. "You okay?" she asked worriedly, "those cuffs were awfully tight."

"I haven't been in them long." Nambu assured her, and promptly belied himself by stumbling over his first step.

Gatchaman caught his arm to steady him, then pulled him into a quick hug that startled Nambu even more than Jun's kiss. The Team were not given to displays of affection. His own fault, he knew. His instinctive reserve tended to keep people at a distance - even his own kids.

"Let's move," the Eagle said, "we've got about ten minutes."

Nambu got his first good - if out of focus - look at the ship waiting for them and stopped dead in his tracks. It was unmistakably the original God Phoenix, with the Owl standing on top, waving them on. *'Impossible! I had her scrapped!'*

The ground under them shook with yet another explosion as the base consumed itself and the Swallow tugged urgently at his hand, "Tworp-vworp! Come on, Chief!"

Nambu allowed himself to be urged on. The Eagle and the Condor grabbed him by either arm and flew him up to the entry hatch where the Owl engulfed him in a bone crushing hug.

"Boy am I glad to see you, Chief!" he said as the lift dropped them into the ship.

Nambu didn't answer, he too was busy trying to get his breath back and make sense out of a suddenly senseless world. Gatchaman steered him to the command chair and pressed him into it, taking up station behind him, just as he always did when Nambu rode with the Team. "Go, Tiny!"

"Big ten, Commander." the Owl answered hitting the launch controls. They blasted away from the flame filled hole that had once been Spectra's secret Earth base.

"There goes Zoltar." the Condor said suddenly, bitterly.

"And Mala." the Swan hissed venomously.

Looking at the monitor Nambu saw the familiar Katse escape craft shoot away in the opposite direction. *'What is going on here?'* he wondered desperately, behind his usual calm mask.

His original theory of a Galactor deception didn't hold water, too many errors, even Gel Sadra could do better than this. He glanced surreptitiously around at the Team, all calmly busy at their stations, except for the Eagle, now leaning over the Swan's shoulder and talking softly into her ear. She laughed and slapped playfully at him. Nambu snapped around to look unseeingly out the front port. *'These aren't my children.'* he thought with an irrational, intuitive certainty. *'Yet I don't feel they're trying to deceive me. I'd stake my life they're not hostile.'* He smiled wryly to himself. In fact he'd done exactly that by putting himself into their hands. He closed his eyes. *'Maybe I'm dreaming, having a nightmare.'*

He opened them again as the monitor pinged. A robot dressed in a birdstyle appeared onscreen and Nambu just managed not to gape. Definitely a nightmare! "Good work, Team!" it trilled excitedly, "It's so good to see you safe, Chief Anderson!"

*'Chief Anderson!'* Nambu couldn't resist a quick glance down, to see if he had somehow morphed into the Director. No, those were his hands, his suit, now somewhat the worse for wear.

"Are you feeling all right, Chief?" The robot asked, concerned.

"A little - disoriented." Nambu understated. The antenae rose and fell, a sure sign of perturbation had Nambu known it. "It might be wise to have a full physical on your return, sir. There is some history of neurological side effects from teleportation."

Nambu chilled. Indeed there was, including delusional insanity. "A good idea." he heard himself say, calmly. "Please arrange it.

**---**

**----**

**Gallactor Base, Gobi Desert, 1350 Hrs.** The cell door crashed open. Chief Anderson raised himself on an elbow and regarded the blurry purple apparition in the doorway with lifted brow. "Something wrong?" he inquired politely. Gallactor didn't bother to answer, just dragged the Chief to his feet and out of the cell. Anderson could feel his captor shaking through the grip on his arm, smiled to himself *'You're scared, Zoltar, and I bet I know why.'* He glanced at the guard of heavily armed Green cannon fodder surrounding them and temporarily shelved any ideas of escape. G-Force might easily overcome such odds but not him, at least not unarmed and handicapped by his limited vision.

They were traversing a large chamber of indeterminate function when a familiar voice floated down from the ceiling, "Let him go, Gallactor!"

*'Mark!'* Anderson thought as his captor pulled him into a neck-lock, digging the muzzle of a small beamer into his temple.

"Surrender yourself, Eagle!" the alien shrilled, practically in his ear. "Or I kill your master here and now!"

"Don't do it, Commander!" the Chief called, strong and clear over the sudden hammering of his heart. "That's an order!" The arm across his throat tightened, crushing his windpipe, he struggled for air as the room redded out around him.

"Stop!" The pressure eased. "I'm coming down."

*'No!'* Anderson thought desperately unable to protest aloud, still barely able to breath.

A white winged form, blurred by myopia and unshed tears, landed lightly in front of them and bent to place his birdrang on the floor, kicking it away. "Now let him go!"

The Chief staggered as he was abruptly shoved towards his foster son. White wings wrapped protectively around them both as the Eagle pulled him down shouting, "G-Force go!"

Anderson's head impacted painfully with the deck. He heard the rush of air as his other children swooped into battle; a chatter of gunfire from the Green Goons; the whistle of the Swan's yoyo; the meaty thunk of the Condor's harpoon gun hitting home; and soaring over it all Zoltar's hysterical screams. He tried to brush the sheltering wing aside to see what was happening but the Eagle blocked the gesture.

"No, Doctor, stay down."

Zoltar's cries faded down the corridor as he fled pursued by the Team. G1 helped Anderson to his feet, asking anxiously if he was all right?

"Except for an incipient concussion and some bruised ribs, yes," he replied. "You gave me a bad moment there, Commander."

"I couldn't let him kill you." the other explained.

The Chief shook his head. "It was a bluff, Eagle. I'm too valuable an Intelligence source to be thrown away like that."

"Maybe." was the quiet, unconvinced answer. "I couldn't take the chance. I've already lost one father to Gallactor."

Anderson was forced to blink hard, the lump in his throat kept him from responding. In the emotion of the moment he also failed to notice the unfamiliar name 'Gallactor'.

The rest of G-Force pounded back into the room. G2, furious: "Got away again damnit!"

"Are you all right, Doctor?" G3 asked in concern.

And G4 simply put his arms around his guardian's legs and hugged.

Anderson hugged him back and assured the Swan he was all right. He flinched as the Condor brushed a gentle finger over the rapidly swelling flesh around one eye. "Who gave you the shiner, Doc?"

"I have no idea," he shrugged. "presumably one of the guards."

His second son grinned, eyes icy cold. "Guess that means I'll have to kill them all."

"I appreciate the thought, G2, but we would be better employed finding a way out of here." Anderson told him firmly.

"Not to worry, Doctor," The Commander said happily, "our ride should be here any minute."

*'Do I want to know?'* The Chief wondered, *'Probably not.'* The room began to vibrate as thundering engines, punctuated by occasional tearing crashes, drew nearer. "Stand back, guys, here I come!" crowed a voice over the Team's bracelets.

*'Tiny?'* Anderson wondered as he allowed himself to be drawn back into the farthest corner of the room. The wall opposite bulged, then cracked and tore, pierced by the Phoenix's bright red prow. The metal bulkheads peeled back as the rest of the ship forced its way through to hover on its belly jets a few feet off the deck.

"All aboard who's coming aboard! the Phoenix special to Crescent base and points east!" The Owl announced happily.

"It was G5's idea." The Eagle explained to their goggling mentor.

----

"Any trouble, Hooty?" G1 asked as they entered the bridge.

"Nope, walls tore like tinfoil!"

"They just don't make Gallactor bases like they used to." the Condor remarked taking his seat. "Okay if I leave them a few bird missles to remember us by, Doc?" he added, glancing over at Anderson in the command chair.

The Chief nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Certain discontinuities had finally begun to register. Gallactor? Hooty? And since when was he 'Doctor' or 'Doc' to the Team? they'd called him 'Chief' ever since he stopped being 'Uncle Keith'. He looked around at the familiar faces, the familiar control cabin and frowned inwardly, suspicions now fully aroused. Something funny was going on, yet how could Zoltar have the data necessary to create such a convincing replica of the Phoenix's interior? *'Play along,'* he told himself, *'See where this goes.'*

"At least wait til we get outside!" G3 snapped, more sharply than Princess would have.

The Condor looked hurt. "Of course I will," he said, "you think I'm crazy or something?"

"YES!" the rest of the Team replied in emphatic near unison.

The Chief couldn't help grinning. *'Damn good characterization, whoever they are.'*

------

Credit to Stevie Dmytryszyn for the Chief's first name, 'Keith'. And Thanks to Sarah Meador for her G-Force Overview, and all others who contributed G-Force information.

---

---

The Eagle Riders belong to Saban; Doctor Brighthead to Turner which is solely responsible for his name.

**Vorak Base, Somewhere above the Arctic Circle, 1330 Hrs.** Brighthead looked impassively at the enemy commander, noting that it was not Gallactor but somebody new. Even without his glasses he could see he/she was wearing the most ridiculous outfit he'd ever seen even on one of Gallactor's lieutenants. The great height, nearly a head taller than Brighthead himself, and deep voice seemed masculine but the cataracts of blond hair and curving figure were definitely female. *'Perhaps a shapechanger like Gallactor but with a weaker grasp of normal human appearance.'* he conjectured.

Suddenly the commander cut short hir ravings with a shriek of fury and struck out knocking him to the floor. He lay there a moment, stunned. S/he stared down at him, visibly dismayed. "Are you all right?" s/he almost whispered in a scared voice.

*'So its afraid of damaging me, interesting.'* Brighthead thought. "I think so, no bones broken." He started to rise only to be pushed back by a booted foot square in the chest and lay there, looking up at his captor now poised over him like a hunter posing with hir prey. *'Didn't I see this scene once in a blue movie?'*

"So you can talk!" The commander gloated triumphantly. "Let's start with the locations of Earth's main military bases. Brighthead said nothing. *'Doesn't it realize its shown its hand? It's answerable to somebody, Gallactor or Computor, who doesn't want me harmed. Yet.'*

"EEEiii!" furious again the commander lifted hirr foot for a kick and he swiftly rolled clear, half rising to a crouch. The tense moment was broken by the entrance of an agitated Greenie.

"Madam! The Hawk has been seen inside the base!"

Well, that settled its gender. Brighthead hid a smile behind his moustache.

The commander spun, purple sleeves flapping, and snapped, "Bring him!" to her henchmen as she headed out the door. A guard hauled the Doctor to his feet. He pulled himself free and followed the commander out of the room fingering the energy cell secreted in the pocket of his lab coat. It wasn't difficult to guess what the she had in mind. Brighthead now knew that any threat made against him would be a bluff but the Team couldn't be expected to realize that. They would do whatever seemed necessary to protect their mentor, including giving themselves up. He couldn't permit that. Brighthead looked around.

The commander was striding rapidly along several yards ahead, dragging a guard with her as she questioned him. Three more Guys in Green trailed him, weapons at ready. He was unlikely to get a better chanc. The Doctor hurled the cell hard against the metal deck. It shattered releasing its energy in an actinic flash that temporarily blinded the Gallactors. When they could see again Brighthead had vanished.

"Wh-where is he?" the commander stuttered, then screamed, "You fools! how could you let him get away!" Her men protested, the prisoner couldn't possibly have gotten past them. "Then where is he?!" she shrieked. "Go! go! find him!" The guards scattered and the commander stood glaring after them for a moment before flouncing off.

Brighthead, watching it all through a ventilation grill set into the concealed access hatch, smiled. Typical Gallactor Goons, no imagination. Good to know he hadn't completely lost his touch after all those years behind a desk. He glanced around the tiny maintenance cubby noting the tool lockers on the walls and hatches in floor and ceiling. He shrugged himself out of his lab coat, realizing it would be an encumbrance in the 'tween-decks crawlways, added tie and vest to the pile then checked the lockers for helpful items. First order of business was to keep himself out of enemy hands, second to contact the Team, but if any opportunities for useful mischief did present themselves - well, it would be irresponsible not to take full advantage.

---

Joe's bracelet pinged. "G2, go." he responded not pausing in his steady sweep through the corridors.

"G1 here, I'm having a little chat with Mallanox."

Joe smiled evilly, "Hogging all the fun as usual, commander?"

"You could say that." Hunter conceded, he certainly sounded like he was enjoying himself. "She claims, and for once I believe her, that she had Dr. Keane but he escaped."

Joe stopped dead and let out hours of accumulated worry in a gust of laughter. "He got away from her? He's on the loose somewhere in the base?"

"Mmmm-hmmm. He knows we're here, he'll be looking for us."

"Guess we'd better make ourselves easy to find." Joe mused, "I got some ideas."

"I knew you would." said Hunter.

-----

Brighthead squinted, struggling to make out the printed labels on a quartet of pipes running into a ventilation shaft. Myopia was a damned nuisance perhaps he should reconsider having his vision surgically corrected. He'd decided against it originally because the operation left the retinas exquisitely sensitive to environmental factors which he feared might blind him at the wrong moment. Of course he was out of the field now but there was always the risk of capture. Perhaps contact lenses were the answer.

He'd have to come up with some kind of defense against future teleport attacks too. A photonic barrier of some kind - his mind threatened to wander off into astrophysics and he curbed it sharply, readdressing the problem at hand. Ah ha. He smiled as he deciphered the final label. Tcch, careless of Gallactor, piping a corrosive coolant through the ventilation system, an accident could happen so easily. He set about arranging one.

-----

The Owl and the Swallow wandered the corridors shooting the occasional Vorak and calling for their guardian. "Doctor!" Ollie roared. Echoed by Mickey's piping "Doc!" Suddenly a new alarm added itself to the cacophany, a high thin wail that stopped the two Eagle Riders in their tracks as a knee high wave of purplish-black smoke surged down the passage to engulf them.

"What the-" Ollie bent to sniff, made a face and spoke into his bracelet. "G5 to G1, we've got environmental contamination on four."

"You two all right?" Hunter asked.

"Just fine." Ollie replied. "It's system coolant, heavy stuff, won't bother us a bit."

"But will give the Vorak a nasty hotfoot." Hunter said approvingly, "Nice work Falcon."

Joe, puzzled: "Wasn't me."

Hunter said, "Dove?"

Kelly, also puzzled: "Me neither."

There was a moment of perplexed silence then five voices cried simultaneously: "Doctor Keane!"

Joe, amused and proud: "Looks like he doesn't need our help!"

Hunter: "He might like a lift home. Forget the lower levels, Owl, Doc's too smart to get caught in his own trap."

"Unlike some people." Joe put in with pointed malice.

Ollie grinned as he pictured the look on Mallanox's face while following Micky back to the access ladder. If Doc was rigging traps for the enemy he must be all right, even if they hadn't found him yet. The other good news was that Hunter'd nabbed Mallanox, but Ollie wasn't getting his hopes up. She'd given them the slip before and odds were she would again or Cybercon would rescue her.

Exiting the tube he nearly collided with the suddenly motionless form of his small partner. "Hey! what's the matter with you?" he demanded irritably.

Mickey pointed. It was the Doctor but it took a second, even third look before Ollie was completely sure. It wasn't just the missing glasses, he'd also lost his lab coat, vest and tie somewhere. He looked younger, tougher, even dangerous, very unlike the scholarly, mild mannered guardian Ollie was accustomed too.

"There you are." the Doctor said with his usual deadpan, then broke into a grin at their sandbagged expressions.

Mickey and Ollie grabbed a hand apiece babbling their relief. "Boy are we glad to see you"

"You all right, Doc?"

"Fine," he assured them, "in fact I've rather enjoyed myself. It's good to see some action for a change." Ollie blinked, startled at the unexpected sentiment.

"You did real good too." Mickey said generously.

"For an aging, ossifying desk man." their guardian finished for him.

"Yeah," the Swallow agreed, blissfully unconscious of irony. "That move with the coolant was real cool." Ollie winced at the pun.

"Thank you," the Doctor said dryly, "which reminds me, we should get out of the main corridors, they'll be boiling up from below anytime now."

As they moved off into a side passage Ollie called in. "G5 to G1, we found him." his foster father lifted an eyebrow. "I mean he found us." Ollie amended.

Hunter, eagerly: "Doc!, you okay? Did she hurt you?"

The Doctor: "I'm fine thank you, commander. I trust one of you has my spare glasses?"

Kelly: "I do."

Hunter: "Right! set your charges and rendevous back at the comm center"

Typically they ran headlong into a band of Vorak just as they rounded the final corner to the rendevous point. Ollie and Mickey closed protectively in front of their guardian, drawing their weapons. The Vorak had obviously come up from below, ragged strips of trouser fabric and synth-skin flapped round blackened and pitted steel limbs, the corrosive coolant had done its work well. Unfortunately it had also left them fighting mad. Usually they ran at the sight of an Eagle Rider but now, faced with two, they stood their ground and opened fire. Mickey's rebound ball ricocheted through the formation like a manic pinball, closely followed by Ollie swinging his gripper. A rear attack by the other three Eagle Riders completed the rout.

"Good work, Team." said Hunter briskly, "Let's get going, Doc-" he broke off. the Doctor had vanished. Hunter instantly jumped to the obvious conclusion. "Vorak must have got him, circle round they can't have gone far.

---

Brighthead stopped to catch his breath, still shaken at how nearly he'd been fooled. He'd encountered shapechangers before but never so convincing. *'I'd have led them right back to base'* he thought grimly. *'Question; was the real Team ever here? or has it all been a charade to make me accept the imposters?'*. He rubbed his eyes, he was tired, he hadn't slept in some forty hours, if help wasn't at hand he was in deep trouble.

"Doctor?" He whirled. The ersatz Owl and Swallow had appeared at one end of the corridor. "You were very good," he told them grimly. "I didn't suspect a thing at first."

"What are you talking about, Doc?" Brighthead turned again to face G1, G2, and G3 blocking the other end of the passage. Surrounded he placed his back to the wall as he continued evenly. "Those strange weapons were a careless mistake, but then your commander didn't impress me with her intelligence."

"Our commander!" G3 gasped, "Doctor, it's us!" He looked back at her, expressionless, clearly disbelieving.

Conscious of the timers ticking away G1 said, "I'm sorry, Doctor, we haven't time to argue with you -" and made a grab for him. Brighthead twisted in his grasp shifting leverage. the Hawk hit the wall hard, losing his grip. Brighthead stepped clear of him, pivoted to avoid the Owl's charge, fiented first one way then the other and got G5 spinning in circles trying vainly to engage until he finally staggered dizzily into a door. G3's weapon, a long pink whip-like ribbon wrapped itself around the Doctor's right arm. He gripped it and swung her hard and high against the opposite wall.

She slid down it to lie in a huddled heap and the Sparrow gave a cry of alarm running to her. Brighthead involuntarily turned towards him giving G2 the opening he needed. Brighthead tried to counter the armlock but steel thewed limbs didn't give at all.

"Don't fight me, Doctor," his opponent told him, "you'll just hurt yourself." The Doctor looked into the familiar face behind its visor and flashed back to the exposed steel limbs of the Green Guards. "Another android?" he guessed. A strange look passed over the G2's face, grief? regret? "Not quite." he answered. His grip shifted, applying pressure and everything went dark.

------

Ollie placed their guardian's inert body on the examination table in the Ultra-Eagle's tiny sickbay. Kelly fastened restraining straps across chest, waist and legs, one handed, her right arm held tightly to her side.

"Is that really necessary?" Ollie asked, pained.

"Yes." she replied flatly, matter-of-fact tone belied by the tears running down her face. "You want to risk another fight?"

"No." Ollie left with a long, backward glance.

Kelly wiped the tears away impatiently and set about her examination. There was a lot of bruising, much of it undoubtedly from the first fight with the Vorak, but the Team had to be responsible for the dislocated shoulder and knee cap, and probably the cracked ribs too. She couldn't reset shoulder or knee one handed so she settled for strapping the ribs and giving him a shot for the pain. Then she waited for him to regain consciousness - hoping somehow, magically, he'd be back to normal.

As consciousness returned Brighthead became aware he was bound, strapped to a thinly padded surface, perhaps an examining table. He opened his eyes to find the false G3 hanging over him.

"Doctor?" she asked, hopefully. She really was *very* good. It was hard to believe this wasn't his Aggie looking anxiously down at him, tears starting in her eyes. "I guess you still don't believe we're really your team." she said tremulously as he refused to respond. "I just hope we can find a way of proving ourselves to you."

Her distress tugged at Brighthead's paternal instincts, just as the Swallow's frightened cry had done. It was agonizingly difficult not to reach out to her, to comfort her. He closed his eyes, shutting her out but still sensed her hovering over him. After what seemed a very long time he heard her turn away, then turn back. He felt the familiar shape of his glasses settle into place and opened his eyes in time to catch a flutter of white wing-cape as she hurried from the room.

Brighthead looked around at the unfamiliar sick-bay, now in clear focus and felt a niggling uncertainty. They certainly weren't *his* team, but could they really be the enemy?

---

Kelly walked into the control cabin and took her station. The other four looked at her anxiously.

Joe: "How is he?"

Kelly, tightly: "Physically he'll be fine, no serious injuries."

Hunter: "What about mentally?"

Kelly adjusted a dial on her board, hand trembling visibly. "He's still convinced we're some kind of imposters."

"What the Hell did Mallanox do to him?" Ollie wondered.

"Maybe nothing," she answered. "It could be a side affect of the teleportation process. Two of the six human subjects of ISO's TP project had similar delusions after transport. The first recovered spontaneously after a few days-"

"Then he'll be all right?" Mickey interrupted eagerly.

"The second subject," his sister continued steadily, "never recovered, he's still in an asylum somewhere. That's why they stopped the project."

The rest of the trip back to base passed in total silence.

----

Special Thanks to Sally Beck for answering endless, arcane questions about the Eagle Riders.


	3. Where Am I?: Dr Keane

**Everybody here belongs to Tatsunoko except for Dr. Keane who belongs to Saban.**

**ISO Building, Utoland: Science Ninja Team Gatchaman Headquarters**

Dr. Thaddeus Keane opened his eyes and immediately recognized his blurry surroundings as his own room at HQ, and the small figure in bright primary colors curled up in the bedside chair as his youngest child. "Mickey?" Keane said, or tried to, all that emerged was a croak.

The boy started awake. "Doctor?" He tumbled eagerly out of his chair to stand beside the bed. "How are you feeling?"

The Doctor cleared his throat and tried again. "Much better than last night." he managed, "Any chance of some tea?"

The kid gave him a huge grin of delighted relief. "Sure, be right back!" and darted out.

Keane reached for his glasses, in their usual place on the bedside table. The Swallow returned promptly with a tray, put it down, poured a cup for his guardian, then a second for himself, loaded it with honey and settled himself at the foot of the bed. "So, who's Kelly?"

The strange question instantly triggered all Keane's defensive instincts. Expertly covering his shock with sip of tea to buy time he produced a polite, "I beg your pardon?"

"Just before you passed out for good you called Jun Kelly," the boy explained. "Joe figured she must be an old girlfriend."

"Joe's wrong," the Doctor returned evenly, heart racing. "Kelly is - a former student who somewhat resembles Jun." *'Got to keep him talking, get more information'* "How did you find me?"

"It wasn't easy! Dr. Pandora didn't even know you were gone for hours and hours, by the time she called us the trail was pretty cold." Like Mickey, Jinpei loved the sound of his own voice, he rattled happily on for nearly an hour until finally interrupted by Jun.

"Jinpei! Doctor is supposed to be resting," she scolded.

"I'm not bothering him," her little brother replied defensively. "Am I, Doctor?"

"Not at all," Keane replied with perfect sincerity. The child had undoubtedly saved him from giving himself away and he was duly grateful.

"I think it's time we let Doctor enjoy a little peace and quiet," Jun declared firmly. "Besides, you've got your homework to do."

Jinpei obviously felt the same enthusiasm for school as Mickey. "Aw, Sis!'

"Come on, Jinpei!" Jun ordered sternly, then smiled at Keane. "Remember, Doctor, you're supposed to rest no sneaking off to the office or your lab!"

"I won't," he promised.

The two of them went off, leaving him with a great deal to think about. He dismissed the possibility of a Vorak deception out of hand. Mallanox lacked both the imagination and the subtlety to concoct such a plan. Which left him with a Team identical to his own but answering to very different names. Mickey was now Jinpei; Kelly, Jun; Ollie had become Ryu and Hunter, Ken. Oddly enough Joe remained Joe. They were still at war but the enemy too had changed; Galactor, an Earth based organization, instead of the alien Vorak, led by a Gel Sadra not Mallanox.

Keane could think of two possible explanations. He could be suffering from teleport induced delusions - but Aikens, (or Pandora) had tested him for neurological damage. The fact he'd woken up in his own rooms rather than the Hospital's Psych Wing proved he'd passed. He turned to the second, far more intriguing possibility. He'd long been fascinated by Multiple Reality Theory and the concept of Parallel Dimensions now it looked as if he might actually have landed in one. *'If this were my apartment at HQ, I'd have half a dozen books on Dimensional Physics in my study next door. Can't hurt to look'*

The study was there, identical in every way to his own. he checked the diplomas on the wall. So far nobody had called him anything but 'Doctor' and it wouldn't do to not recognize his own name. *'Kozaburo Nambu? sounds Japanese.'* He turned to the bookcases and promptly located a number of tomes on speculative physics, though authors and titles differed from his own. *'Nambu must be interested in the field too, but then he would be, wouldn't he?'*

Keane thumbed through the books with growing excitement. Another universe, another reality. Where was Nambu? presumably back home with the Eagle Riders. *'I hope he has the sense to keep quiet until he has some solid evidence to back up his story,'* Keane thought ruefully. *'Come to that, I'd better get some corroboration too before announcing myself.'*

"Doctor Nambu!" He jumped guiltily. Dr. Aikens, *'No, Pandora'*, stood in the outer doorway giving him the hairy eyeball. "You are supposed to be resting, sir," she said severely.

"I was just getting something to read," he replied with as much dignity as is possible when caught barefoot in one's pajamas.

She came over to check the titles of the books he was holding and nodded satisfied. "Good, theoretical speculation, very relaxing."

*'Not so theoretical as you might think, Doctor!'* he thought ruefully.

"All right, back to bed with you, sir," Pandora ordered. "You're to take a complete rest today, and perhaps tomorrow too."

He started to protest but she cut him off. "I'm the Doctor here, Doctor!" she declared, waving an admonishing finger under his nose. Then added more seriously, "You've been through quite an ordeal, sir, you must give yourself time to recover."

Resistance was obviously futile. Besides a few days bed rest would give him time to bone up on his new role. "Very well, Doctor," he surrendered.

----

"I'm worried about Dr. Nambu," Pandora said to the four older Science Ninjas facing her across her desk. They exchanged significant looks and she nodded. "So you've noticed it too." It was not a question.

"I get the feeling he's hiding something," Ryu admitted.

"Holding back," Joe agreed.

"Doctor is not the most forthcoming of men at best," Pandora pointed out dryly.

"This is different," Jun said slowly, twisting a strand of hair pensively round a finger. "He's distracted, like something's haunting him."

"Something that happened while Gel Sadra had him," Ken guessed.

"He was drugged," Pandora mused. "Could he have let something slip? Something dangerous?"

"No!" Ken interrupted vehemently. "Drugged or no it would take longer than thirty hours to break Doctor. He's been trained to resist interrogation just as we have."

"Besides he'd tell us, he'd never hold back something threatening planetary security," Jun argued.

"Right," Joe agreed again. "It'd have to be something personal, that affected only him, something they did to him..." his voice faded as a horrible suspicion dug its claws into his gut. The sick looks on his teammates' faced showed the same ugly thought had occurred to them too.

"Physically he was practically unharmed," Pandora said quickly. "Some bruising from the initial struggle and the residue of the drug in his system, nothing more."

"Psychological then," said Ken, as his color returned to normal. "Could Gel Sadra have tried using hostages to make him talk? tortured or killed innocent people to put pressure on him?"

"She's done it before," Ryu frowned.

"That could be it," Pandora conceded thoughtfully, "Of course he'd never give in to such blackmail, but the guilt of letting innocent people die-"

"Poor, Doctor!" cried Jun, distressed.

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Pandora cautioned. "It could be something quite different we haven't thought of. The real question is do we let him go on struggling with it alone?"

"We can't force him to confide in us," Joe observed.

"No," Ryu put in hesitantly, "but we can let him know we know something's wrong and want to help."

----------------

Dr. Keane looked at the distinctive energy signature on the graph and vented a fervent sigh of relief. At last! he'd begun to fear the rift had closed trapping him in this other dimension for good. A familiar/ strange world far more unsettling than the most surreally alien universe.

He was constantly reminding himself that this wasn't his team. Yet he still found himself worrying about Ken's dark moods, Jun's unassertiveness, Ryu's passivity and Jinpei's almost manic restlessness. His worries about Joe at least were comfortably familiar. They were very much alike the Condor and the Falcon. His Joe was perhaps a little more open, and certainly more articulate, but with the same doubts about his/their essential humanity and a free floating angst rooted in childhood trauma.

Keane flashed back to the tableau of dead parents and dying child, still clutching his father's gun and felt the familiar guilt. *'If only I'd been a few minutes sooner -'* before firmly quashing the thought and refocusing on the graphs.

*'Well, here's my proof.'* A knock on the door. "Come!" It was Gatchaman, looking nervous, determined and seriously insecure. "Ken, what can I do for you?"

"We -" he began, gulped and corrected himself, "that is I've noticed you haven't been quite yourself since we got you back from Galactor." The Doctor was forced to clamp down hard on a sudden urge to giggle and consequently looked even sterner than usual further unnerving his foster son. "If there's anything I can do to help," Ken fairly stuttered.

"Thank you, commander," Keane said quickly, putting him out of his misery, "in fact there is something I need to discuss with you. My briefing room in a half hour?"

"Sure, fine," Ken gulped, "see you then." he escaped.

Keane looked after him thoughtfully. So they had noticed a change? only to be expected if they were as close to Nambu as he was to his Team. Well, the masquerade could end now. He began organizing his materials. A second knock. "Come." This time it was Joe, dark, grim and considerably more self possessed than his commander. "Yes, Joe?"

"Doctor, I know I'm not exactly the perfect foster son," he began, flashed a brief grin, "In fact I'm a real pain in the ass! But if you ever need anything I can give, it's yours."

"I know." Keane replied, rather huskily, fighting back a surge of emotion in which guilt figured prominently. The sentiment was intended for Nambu, he was hearing it under false pretenses. "There is something I need to tell you," he glanced at his watch, "will you come to my briefing room in about twenty minutes?"

"Whatever you say, Doctor." Joe left.

*'He's going to kill me.'* Keane reflected ruefully. The third knock didn't exactly take him by surprise. Keane laid a bet with himself and called; "Come." Sure enough, it was Jun, radiating earnest concern. "Jinpei giving trouble again?" he asked sympathetically.

A faint smile fluttered her lips, "Always. But just now I'm worried about you, Doctor."

"Me?" he deadpanned, "why?"

"I can see something is bothering you," she answered, luminous eyes fixed on his face, "Please, Doctor, won't you let me, let us, help you?"

Keane cleared his throat uncomfortably. "In fact I will be needing you all. Could you bring Dr. Pandora and Jinpei to my briefing room in ten minutes?"

"Of course, Doctor." She practically glowed with relief, had obviously been fearing a rebuff. Rising to leave she reached across the desk to pat his hand shyly, "It'll be all right, you'll see."

"I certainly hope so." he replied.

He almost laughed out loud when the fourth and final knock came some minutes later. "Come in, Ryu!"

The pilot entered, confused. "How did you know it was me?"

"You're the only one left," Keane replied with open amusement.

Ryu winced. "Oh. Guess we weren't very subtle."

"Not very, no," the Doctor agreed. "I appreciate your concern. I'm sorry to have worried you all, I didn't mean to."

Ryu shook his head. "You don't have to hide stuff from us, Doctor, we're not kids anymore. If you're in trouble we want to help."

"I hope you still feel that way after I've explained," Keane said. He wasn't looking forward to this.

"Whatever it is we'll understand," Ryu assured him earnestly.

"Perhaps." Keane replied noncommitaly

------

. Ken walked slowly down the corridor leading to Nambu's offices. He was afraid of what Doctor might tell him and even more afraid of how he'd react. He dug his hands deeper into his pockets, frowning fiercely at the floor. He wasn't proud of the way he'd behaved after his father's death. Rage had clouded his mind and shot his priorities to hell. He'd nearly gotten himself and the Team killed. He couldn't afford to go that road again but - if Gel Sadra had hurt Doctor...the rage stirred.

He entered the empty briefing room and sat in his usual place at the conference table. He wondered if he was up to the role of confidant. Jun was always telling him how bad he was with emotions. Would he be able to cope if Doctor broke down on him, needed comforting? Even the thought scared Ken. He was afraid to see his guardian show weakness. He needed Nambu to be strong, to show him how to be strong. *'I'm being selfish, I should be thinking of Doctor, not myself..'* The door opened and he looked up, bracing himself.

----

Joe's mood as he strode down the same corridor to the same destination was dark and bleak. He put no faith in Dr. Pandora's reassurances, she'd lied to them before. Hell, Doctor had probably asked her to. Joe could understand that, he'd never told anybody the full story of what Katse had done to him. It was private and it was over. There wasn't anything anybody could do to change what'd happened so why harrow Doctor and the Team with the details? He didn't expect Doctor to confide in him now, he expected him to ask for help getting revenge. *'I can do that,'* Joe thought, the cold Condor light in his eyes. *'I'll bring him Gel Sadra's head in a basket.'* Vengeance wouldn't change a thing, Joe knew that better than anyone, but it was all he had to offer. He opened the conference room door and found himself looking at Ken, already seated.

---

Jun, on the other hand, felt only relief as she approached the briefing room, Pandora and Jinpei in tow. *'It can't be anything bad if he wants Jinpei to hear it,'* she thought happily. Obviously they'd been all wrong about what was bothering Doctor. Probably nothing worse than some new Galactor Plot he'd managed to uncover during his captivity. He'd just been worried about how to counter it. Now he'd made his decision and was ready to tell them his plan.

Pandora had come to the same conclusion and was grumpy about it. "Why must he be so secretive?" she complained to Jun. "I'm supposed to be his private secretary! How does he expect me to assist him in his work if he never tells me what's going on?"

"Doctor is used to keeping his own council," Jun soothed. "I'm sure he didn't mean any slight to you."

Pandora heaved a long suffering sigh. Beside her Jinpei gave a happy skip. "Some action at last!" he crowed. "Yeah! get Galactor!" and both women smiled at his uncomplicated enthusiasm.

Entering the briefing room they found Ken and Joe eyeing each other, visibly nonplussed. Both turned to stare at the newcomers but before anybody could say anything Doctor and Ryu entered together, the latter looking faintly troubled as he took his place beside his Teammates.

Doctor Keane surveyed his audience and decided to relieve their suspense, and his, by cutting right to the chase. "I owe you all an apology," he announced. "I regret to say I've been deliberately deceiving you for the last several days. I'm very sorry but I thought it necessary." The team and Pandora blinked at him, puzzled but forgiving. He took a mental breath and gave it to them straight. "I am not your Doctor Nambu."

The announcement was followed by few seconds of stunned silence. Then Joe was out of his chair and slamming Keane against the wall with a snarl; "What've you done with him!"

"Joe!" Ken, Jun, Ryu, Jinpei and Pandora chorused starting to their feet, ready to interfere.

Keane blinked away stars and looked coolly and quellingly into the glaring violet eyes inches from his. "I expected you to take it like that," he said, voice dry with irony. "My Joe never thinks before he acts either."

The Condor's grasp loosened fractionally as he struggled with his confusion. "Your Joe?"

"Let go of me." Keane ordered crisply, "sit down and I'll explain." Responding automatically to the familiar tone of command Joe released him and grudgingly resumed his seat. So did the others. Six pairs of wide eyes fixed on Keane as he began; "I trust you are all acquainted with multi-dimensional theory and the concept of parallel universes? God knows I've bored my own Team with it often enough."

"You're claiming to be an alternate of Dr. Nambu from a parallel dimension?" Pandora demanded, jumping ahead.

"Exactly," he agreed, smiling wryly at her obvious disbelief. "I have proof." he spread the graphs out on the conference table. The Team and Pandora leaned in to study them. Joe, Ryu and Jinpei blankly. Pandora, Jun and Ken with dawning comprehension.

"An interdimensional rift?" Pandora asked putting a slim finger on a particular spot.

"The one I came through," Keane nodded.

"But what happened to our Doctor?" Jinpei asked plaintively.

"Logically he must be in my universe." *'I hope.'*

"And who are you?" Ken asked, studying him with narrowed eyes.

Keane sat down behind the conference table, folding his hands. "My name is Thaddeus Keane," he said formally. "I am deputy director of the International Science Organization and chief of ISO's special defense forces, including the Eagle Riders, five youngsters I've adopted and trained to fight the Vorak, android invaders from another planet."

"Sounds like a pretty close parallel," said Ken.

"Very close indeed," the Doctor agreed. "But my team has different names, and our HQ is Gateway City in Australia, not Utoland, Japan."

"Isn't much left of our Australia," Ryu commented.

"I know. Your third World War seems to have been far more destructive than ours."

"And you've got a Joe," said Joe.

Keane smiled at him. "A cyborg, like yourself, and with the same short fuse. I thought you were my Joe when you rescued me. As you'll recall I was in no condition to notice subtle differences. I didn't realize anything was wrong until the next morning when Jinpei asked me who Kelly was."

"Me!" said Jun, in tones of surprise. "I mean my alternate."

"That's right." his smile faded, "I'm sorry I deceived you, but I thought I'd better have some solid evidence before coming out with such an unlikely story."

"That was very wise," Pandora conceded ruefully. "If you didn't have these," she gestured at the graphs, "to back you up I'd probably diagnose a bad case of teleport dementia."

"But what do we do?" Jinpei demanded, "How do we get our Doctor back?"

"No offense," Jun put in quickly.

"None taken," Keane assured her. "I want to get home to my own team too. "The first step is to go out to the rift and try to establish communications with my universe."


End file.
